Machine for fire finishing tumblers and other glass articles



H. H. PITT. MACHINE FOR FIRE FINISHING TUMBLERS AND OTHER GLASS ARTICLES. APPLICATION FILED AUG. 7, I917.

1,30%453. Patented June 24, 1919.

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H. H. PITT. MACHINE roe FIRE FINISHING TUMBLERS AND OTHER GLASS ARTICLES.

I APPLICATION FILED AUG. 7. I917. 1,307,453.

Patented June 24, 1919.

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K g' H- /r /;l \\\\T%Y" i M VME: r 4 a a I g- Q) if Y EDT/(Er HENRY HARLEY PITT, OF LESBURY, ENG-LAND.

MACHINE FOR FIRE-FINISHING TUMBLERS AND OTHER- GLASS ARTICLES.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented June 24, 1919.

Application filed August 7, 1917. Serial No. 1841954.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY HARLEY Prr'r, of The Farm, Christen Bank, Lesbury, in the county of Northumberland, England, glasswork expert, a subject of the King of reat Britain and Ireland, have invented certain new and useful Improvements Relating to Machines for Fire-Finishing Tumblers and other Glass Articles, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to machines for fire-finishing tumblers and other hollow glass articles, and has for its object to provide an improved machine forthis purpose.

A machine for fire-finishing tumblers and other hollow glass articles in accordance with this invention is characterized in that means are provided for passing water, steam, air or other 'cooling medium through the plugs or stands which receive or support the tumblers or other hollow glass articles during the fire-finishing process, for the purpose of cooling said plugs or stands.

The preferred form of machine for firefinishin tumblers and similar glass articles which table or the like carryin a number of rotary plugs or stands adapte to receive the tumblers or the like to be fire-finished, means for rotating or moving said table or the like so as to pass the plu s or stands through a furnace or glory-ho e and means for admitting and discharging water, steam, air or other cooling medium to and from the interior of each plug or stand to cool same. Means are also provided for alternately raising and lowering the tumblers or the like on the plugs or stands. I may also combine with my improved machine one or more nozzles arranged so as to direct a jet or jets of air on such portions of the exterior of the tumbler or the like as may be required to be protected from excessive heat, as has been done in other machines for fire-finishing pressed glass articles.

I will fully describe my invention with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein,

Figure 1 is a plan of one construction of machme for fire-finishing glass tumblers and embodying m invention;

Fig. 2 is a hal sectional elevation to a la1er scale of the machine of Fig. 1; and

ig. 3 is an elevation of a detail.

Referring to Figs. 1, 2 and 3 of the drawings, in the embodiment of my invention t onto plugs or stands comprises a therein illustrated, I arrange around the periphery of a horizontal circular table aa number of plugs or stands 6 each adapted to receive a tumbler c (as shown in Fig. 2) to be fire-finished. The circular table a is carried by radial arms d from a hub or sleeve e free to rotate about a .fixed central pivot f. The sleeve is rotated in any convenient manner. At one side, the table a extends beneath a furnace or glory-hole 9 so that, as the table rotates, the plugs bcar ried thereby pass through said furnace. The furnace is constructed of suitablyshaped fire-clay blocks as usual, and may be suspended from an overhead beam or supported from the floor in any suitable fashion. The table a runs on balls h arranged in a ball-race around the top of a circular fixed frame 3' which is carried by a suitable bed-plate (not shown) which also carries the pivot f.

Each plug b is mounted on a flanged shaft is which passes through a hole in the table a and is free to rotate therein on balls m, and a chain wheel at is fitted on the shaft k beneath the table, said chain wheel being rotated by a chain 11/ (Fig. l) which passes around the outer side of the chain wheels of all the plugs and also around a chain wheel 0 loosely mounted on the central sleeve 2 but attached to a toothed wheel 1) driven by a pinion g on a vertical shaft T which is rotated in any suitable manner. A jockey pulley may be provided for adjusting the chain.

Each plug 6 is hollow having an internal chamber 8 through which passes a tube t surrounding a central rod or spindle a. Water, steam or air is drawn or forced through the chambers s of the plugs b to cool same and keep them at an even temperature,

and the cooling medium may be continu ou-sly passed through the plugs in a steady stream or may be alternately admitted to and discharged therefrom, or may be admitted to the plugs only at such times as may be necessary to keep them at the desired temperature. The cooling medium, which may conveniently be water, is supplied under pressure to a central chamber 'v in the hub e through a supply pipe w and is led from said central chamber through a radial pipe :12. A port a in the shaft is of the plug 6 is adapted to register with the outer end of the pipe at once during each revolution of said shaft. If desired, more than one port a may be provided. The port 2 communicates with an internal passage 2 in the shaft leading to a pipe 3 and a perforated ring 4 Within the chamber 8 from which the water issues. The water is led away from the chamber .9 through a hole 5 in the shaft from which it drips into a circular drip tray 6 provided around the inside of the frame j. In order that water shall only be supplied to the chamber 8 when the plug is passing through the furnace g, or for such portion of the travel of each plug as may be desirable, I provide in the pipe w a cock controlled by a lever 7 operated by a rod 8 provided with a roller 9 running on a circular track 10. The track 10 is provided with a raised portion or cam 11 opposite to the furnace g or in such position as may be required so that, when the roller 9 rides over said raised portion, the rod 8 is lifted to raise the lever 7 and open the cock in the pipe at, as shown in Fig. 2, and water or other cooling medium flows to the chamber 8. When the roller 9 returns to normal level,

the lever 7 is lowered and the cock closed. In this way the water or other cooling medium is only supplied to the chamber 8 while the plug is passing through the furnace or during such portion of the travel of each plug as may be arranged. It will be understood that a separate pipe 00 and cock-operating mechanism7, 8, 9 are provided for each plug 1). As the port (or ports) 2 only communicate with the pipe m once during each revolution of the plug 1), the water will issue from the perforated ring 4 in intermittent jets during the passage of the plug through the furnace. By thus cooling the plugs I am enabled to keep the temperature thereof sufficiently low to prevent the tumbler or the like sticking to the plug during the finishing process.

The central rod or spindle u of each plug 6 is adapted to be alternately raised and lowered or allowed to fall, and in the raised position a. head 12 on the rod u projects beyond the top of the plug. The rod u is raised and loweredby a circ ular switch-back track 13 which is engaged by the lower end of the rod and passes around the inside of the frame 9' being supported therefrom by brackets 14. The profile of the track is shown in Fig. 3. The tumbler c on the plug Z) is thus alternately raised by the head 12 of the rod u as indicated in dot-and-dash lines in Fig. 2, and lowered again, which movement, when the plug is passing through the furnace, allows the flame of the furnace to pass to some extent into the interior of the tumbler to smooth and polish the mouth or' of concavities may be formed around the plugs as indicated in dot and-dash lines at 16 in Fig. 2 in such a position that said groove or the like is partially uncovered by the tumbler in its raised position. The groove or the like 16 will permit the flame of the furnace to enter the mouth of the tu mbler and insure that the edge 15 thereof is thoroughly smoothed and polished by the flame.

In order to protect the base 17 of the tumbler from excessive heat which would soften and distort same, I provide a series of nozzles 18, 19 suitably fed with compressed adapted to direct jets of air upon the outside of the tumbler near the base and across the base to prevent the temperature of said portions rising too high. The nozzles may be arranged in any convenient manner and may be supported by or from the walls of the furnace or otherwise conveniently, and a valve or valves will be provided to control said jets of airas required. If necessary additional nozzles may be provided to direct air upon other portions of the article on the p What I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is 1. A fire-finishing machine for hollow glass articles comprising a movable carrier, a series of hollow article-carrying plugs mounted thereon, said plugs being of a shape corresponding to the interior of the article to be carried thereby, means for advancing the carrier to successively pass each plug and the article mounted thereon through the furnace, and means for supplying jets of cooling medium against the interior of each plug during the movement of the carrier, whereby the interior of the glass article is cooled and thereby prevented from sticking to the plug and from losing its shape.

.2. A fire-finishing machine for hollow glass articles comprising a movable carrier, a series of hollow article-carrying plugs mounted thereon, said plugs being of a shape corresponding to the interior of the article to be carried thereby, means for advancing the carrier to successively pass each plug and the article mounted thereon through the furnace, means for lifting the articles slightly off of the carrying plugs, whereby the flames may lick under the edges of the slightly lifted article and between the article and its carrying plug, and means for supplying jets of cooling medium against the interior of each plug during the movement of the carrier, whereby the interior of the glass article is cooled and thereby prevented from sticking to the plug and from losing its shape.

3. In a fire-finishing machine for hollow glass articles, a movable carrier, a series of hollow article-carrying plugs thereon closely fitting the glass articles to be treated, means for advanclng the carrier to successively pass each plug and the article mounted thereon through the furnace, means for supplying a cooling medium to the interior of each plug during the movement of the carrier, means normally cutting off the admission of said cooling medium, and for automatically admitting the cooling medium successively to each plug while entering and passing through the furnace and for again cutting off the said medium as the plug issues from the furnace.

4. In a fire finishing machine for hollow glass articles a rotary table, a series of hollow article-carrying plugs thereon closely fitting the glass article to be treated, means for rotating the table to successively pass each plug and the article mounted thereon through the furnace, means for supplying a cooling medium to the interior of each plug during the rotation of the table, means for automatically and alternately raising and lowering each article from and on to its carrier plug, means normally cutting off the cooling medium and for automatically admitting the said medium successively to each plug While this is passing through the furnace and for again cutting off the said medium from the plug as the latter issues from the furnace.

5. In a fire-finishing machine for hollow glass articles a rotary table, a series of hollow article-carrying plugs thereon closely fitting the glass articles to be treated, means for rotating the table to successively pass each plug and the article mounted thereon through the furnace, means for supplying a cooling medium to the interior of each plug during the rotation of the table, means for automatically and alternately raising and lowering each article from and on to its carrier plug, means for rotating each plug upon its axis during the rotation of the table, means for intermittentl admitting the cooling medium to each p ug in succession at one or inore points in each revolution of the plug upon its axis, means normally cutting off the cooling medium, and for automatically admitting the said medium successively to each plug while this is passing through the furnace and for again cutting off the said medium from the plug as the latter issues from the furnace.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto signed my name in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

HENRY HARLEY PITT.

Witnesses EMILY JANE CooPnR, IRENE Pm. 

